Grandma was afraid of her father. Maybe this fear was passed on to her from her
mother, who disliked and feared her husband. Grandma said that her father had a very stern look: “As soon as he looked at me, I would immediately run somewhere behind the stove”.

He was gathering people in the villages for logging when he first saw my Grandma’s mother. He immediately liked the beautiful, strong girl. Grandma used to say: “Our mother was blood and milk, with a braid as thick as her arm.” Grandma’s father, Peter, paid Evdokia’s father to take her with him.

Grandma’s father died of tuberculosis. Shortly before his death, he slept in a lethargic sleep. When he woke up, he was crying. At that time, Grandma’s mother was nearby. She asked him why he was crying. He said just one phrase, which my Grandma repeated to me many times while telling me this story: “The guys are not your helpers, but I feel sorry for Vera.”

By boys, he meant their sons. One of them died in the war, and the other was taken prisoner. The fate of Aunt Vera, Grandma’s sister, is very sad indeed.

Grandma often told me about the life of her family, and did not stop asking herself what her father saw in a dream, and how he managed to predict the fate of his children so accurately. It remained a mystery to her — and she managed to convey a sense of mystery to me.